Taylor Hawkes has a heavy focus on placing audit professionals within the London practice market. Our clients range from Top 10/20 firms through to leading mid-tier firms and independent boutiques. We aim to act as recruitment advisors to our clients throughout the process and often advise on market rate salaries.

As we conclude Q4 22 and head into Q1 23, we are finding that the demand for auditors across the board is at levels that we have not experienced before. My personal opinion is that the demand will be at this level for, at least, the next two years. With the amount of audit work available to firms to tender for, the demand for staff remains high, but with limited personnel available.

We are finding that across all levels, salaries continue to increase which we attribute to the number of opportunities available for candidates and the counter offers being made to keep staff.

We believe that the increase has predominantly been driven by the shortage of audit personnel available on the market. The shortage of candidates looking to move has led firms to make offers at 5-10% above typical market rate to secure candidates. This is subsequently leading firms to collectively increase salaries for their current staff force to keep, both, parity within the team and prevent staff leaving for higher offers.

It remains increasingly common for candidates with lower audit to be considered for audit heavy roles. Providing those candidates can demonstrate that they are keen to focus on an audit heavy role, we are now seeing firms be flexible in terms of interviewing candidates that only have a current audit exposure of <50% of their role.

Away from the base salary, candidates are also conscious of the following factors:

• The majority of the Top 10 now offer all qualified audit staff the title Assistant Manager, which would have previously been an Audit Senior. Due to the high demand for audit personnel, a lateral move on title is something that candidates are becoming apprehensive to. We have seen offers accepted/rejected purely based on title alone. Therefore, we believe that a reorganization on titles is something that should be considered.
• Working from home remains a factor with the majority of offers at present also. Candidates are leaning towards companies that offer flexibility to work a hybrid model and work from home a couple of days a week. The consensus is that 2-3 days per week from home is sufficient.
• We are seeing a range of sign on or retention bonuses included in offers. On top of the base salary, we are finding it is common for a sign on bonus to be included (to be paid after the first month) or a retention bonus (if they remain with the firm for 12 months after joining). This seems to work well as parity is being maintained within the team, whilst also making offers very appealing.
• Due to the number of offers that candidates are achieving, the wider package is becoming increasingly important. The major factors that are being prioritised by candidates surround; Annual Leave (23-25 days up to Manager level, 25+ beyond, is the mean average. The basic 20 days allowance is becoming increasingly rarer and would put an offer behind market rate), pension contributions and any additional benefits.

Below is a summary of offer ranges made over the past three months to candidates across all levels.

The table summarises the lowest offer made as well as the highest offer received for candidates. This table aims to give guidance on salaries offered throughout the market and act as a potential guideline to use when making offers to audit individuals.

Please note that we have focused on audit roles as a whole. We are aware that each role differs in terms of exposure to other areas including accounts, tax, corporate finance etc. There will always be a slight premium for niche roles within audit (SRA focus, FCA specialism, NFP etc), however, the table looks at audit salaries as one category.

Offers made have been received from Top 10 firms (Big Four not included), Top 20 firms, Top 50/100 and independent boutiques with sector specialisms (Media, financial services, tech, NFP etc).

It is also key to note that the table looks at solely the starting annual salary and does not take into consideration additional benefits such as; study support, holiday allowance, private pension, healthcare, salary reviews etc.

Please not that some firms have the title of an Assistant Manager for newly qualified staff, the table below details the time span post qualification.

Please contact liam@taylorhawkes.com for further information on salaries.